Martin Luther King's biblical epic : his final, great speech

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Where to find it

Davis Library (5th floor)

Call Number
E185.97.K5 M4898 2012
Status
Available

Stone Center Library

Call Number
E185.97.K5 M4898 2012
Status
Available

Authors, etc.

Names:

Summary

In his final speech ""I've Been to the Mountaintop,"" Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his support of African American garbage workers on strike in Memphis. Although some consider this oration King's finest, it is mainly known for its concluding two minutes, wherein King compares himself to Moses and seems to predict his own assassination. But King gave an hour-long speech, and the concluding segment can only be understood in relation to the whole. King scholars generally focus on his theology, not his relation to the Bible or the circumstance of a Baptist speaking in a Pentecostal setting. Even though King cited and explicated the Bible in hundreds of speeches and sermons, Martin Luther King's Biblical Epic is the first book to analyze his approach to the Bible and its importance to his rhetoric and persuasiveness.Martin Luther King's Biblical Epic argues that King challenged dominant Christian supersessionist conceptions of Judaism in favor of a Christianity that affirms Judaism as its wellspring. In his final speech, King implicitly but strongly argues that one can grasp Jesus only by first grasping Moses and the Hebrew prophets. This book also traces the roots of King's speech to its Pentecostal setting and to the Pentecostals in his audience. In doing so, Miller puts forth the first scholarship to credit the mostly unknown, but brilliant African American architect who created the large yet compact church sanctuary, which made possible the unique connection between King and his audience on the night of his last speech.

Contents

  • Acknowledgments p. xi
  • Introduction And Then I Got into Memphis p. 3
  • Chapter 1 I Left Atlanta: King's Religious Rhetoric p. 27
  • Chapter 2 A Certain Man Fell among Thieves: King and the Parable of the Good Samaritan p. 51
  • Chapter 3 I'm Delighted to See Each of You Here Tonight: Pentecostalism and Mason Temple p. 62
  • Chapter 4 Across the Red Sea: The Exodus Continues p. 71
  • Chapter 5 Fire on the Streets and in the Bones: King Revives Hebrew Prophecy p. 89
  • Chapter 6 If I Do Not Stop, What Will Happen to Them? King's Rhetoric of the Body p. 112
  • Chapter 7 Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Julia Ward Howe, the Bible, and Memphis p. 129
  • Chapter 8 If I Had Merely Sneezed, I Would Have Died: King's Biblical Interpretation p. 158
  • Appendix A Text of "I've Been to the Mountaintop" p. 175
  • Appendix B The Parable of the Good Samaritan, as Told in Luke 10:25-37 p. 183
  • Appendix C The Murray/Buttrick Intertext p. 184
  • Appendix D The Luccock/Buttrick Intertext p. 185
  • Appendix E The Buttrick/King Intertext p. 188
  • Appendix F The Murray/Buttrick/King Intertext p. 191
  • Appendix G The Luccock/Buttrick/King Intertext p. 193
  • Appendix H Liberal Protestant Commonplaces in "I've Been to the Mountaintop" p. 195
  • Appendix I Parallels for Segments of ôIÆve Been to the Mountaintop" p. 201
  • Notes p. 203
  • Bibliography p. 223
  • Index p. 237

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